Trails of Bonavista

Arrive in Trinity around midday and settle into the bed and breakfast that will be your comfy home base for this short break. Get out and explore the small, quaint town, and take in a performance of the Trinity Pageant by Rising Tide Theatre, which is a walking tour of the town featuring comedic skits based on historic events and personalities. To stretch your legs, take a short hike up Gun Hill Trail for a panoramic view of Trinity Bight. In the evening, take in a performance of the Seasons in the Bight theatre festival.

After breakfast, drive to nearby Trinity East to trek the Skerwink Trail, named by Travel and Leisure as one of the top 30 walking trails in Europe and North America. The trailhead is next to the church, and is the beginning of an easy to moderate 5.3-km walk along the coast. You will see seabirds and possibly whales and icebergs, but the coastal geology and rock formations – especially the sea stacks – are the main attractions. One sea stack is called the Music Box for the sounds created when the wind blows over it. After the walk, it's back to Trinity to freshen up and have lunch.

This afternoon we head to New Bonaventure to hike the trail to British Harbour. The first part of the walk, as far as Kearley's Harbour, is fairly easy, but it gets harder after that. It will take us two to three hours to complete six kilometres. The trail goes through a movie set in New Bonaventure, built in 2002 for the TV miniseries Random Passage, which is based on a novel about early 19th-century pioneers in Newfoundland. Keep an eye out for moose and other wildlife further along the trail. The foundations of long-abandoned buildings show where earlier settlements have been abandoned. Part of the trail follows a centuries-old cart track.

After supper we take a sunset cruise on a motorized sailboat all around Trinity Bight.

Today, we take a break from walking and drive to Bonavista to explore the lighthouse, several heritage buildings and the Ryan Premises National Historic Site, which tells the story of the 500-year-old fishery along the Atlantic coast. Bonavista is best explored on foot, and the narrow streets will take you to many interesting, old buildings. There's even a replica of John Cabot's ship, Matthew, which he sailed here in 1497, opening up the Newfoundland fishery.